Mally Elbaz Almandine

"Almandine is a purple gemstone that has been a true inspiration for my works. It represents a natural foundation that reflects the fieldstones I used to play with as a child. It’s a kind of milestone."

Mally Elbaz Almandine creates art that consists of tiny particles that connect to one another and evolve into forms and images that evoke complex childhood memories.

Mally’s artistic perspective is of a girl playing in space and time with a sense of freedom of expression, in both order and disorder. Through her works, she embarks on a naïve and fantastic journey of magic with a surreal sense of levitation, where happiness is blended with sadness. Mally both breaks down and builds childhood memories of her home and her parents, who immigrated from Yemen to Israel. She also has a very strong connection to the art of embroidery and sewing, work she experienced as a child with her father and grandfather. 

Going with her family for walks in the meadow, alongside the traditional ornamentation she experienced as a child, are the basis of the artistic language Mally developed. Her works evoke folklore that has undergone a liberated and personal process; a kind of carnival of colors and shapes that has substantial loneliness and pain.

The artistic process recurs, as layer upon layer is added, duplicating details in a repetitive movement. The crafts that were absorbed by Mally during her childhood dig up personal memories and express the spiritual and ritual facet of her work. They also cast doubt and ask questions, whose answers lie in the accumulation of her works of art.